My 2 Christmas gifts.

J

John Buchtenkirch

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I really didn’t get much for Christmas this year but in my own strange way it wasn’t bad. I don’t know if it was because I was a bit grumpy from working too many late nights on the coupe but I got an awful lot of negative coupe comments from 89 year old & quite senile mom. She just couldn’t understand how I spent so much money on a car and immediately ripped it apart, something she went out of her way to tell anyone who would listen. Being that I have always maintained her cars I just figured I deserved a pass on this but she somehow kept twisting the knife in my stomach too often on this. I tried to explain to her that the coupe was a collector car that surely would go up in value but she just figured I didn’t know what I was talking about even though she knew I’ve worked on cars all my life.

Maybe 2 weeks ago I had to pick up some parts at the BMW dealer so I convinced mom to take a ride on the car’s first trip to the dealer that had gotten me so many parts. I gassed up on the way over and the pump attendant and his friend that had just pulled in were admiring the car. I got back in the car and mom who can barely hear asked “what is all the fuss about”? I just answered “they really liked the car”. She only replied in disbelief “Oh my” Half way over to the dealer a guy driving a Coke delivery truck pulled up along her side of the car and started beeping his horn. I had to lean over where I almost had my head in her lap to see the double thumbs up but she could see it clearly enough. Then I arrived at the dealer and luckily there was a space open right in front of the showroom. I parked and left mom in the car while I got parts. I came out about 10 minutes later and all the guys from the parts department, some salesmen and other people, maybe 15 or more were crowded around the car. I didn’t ask them to but they gave mom the royal treatment, invited her in for coffee and cookies and told her how wonderful the car looked and was. She wouldn’t admit it but she was obviously impressed. I haven’t heard any more bad remarks about the car. A few days before Christmas I went into her house and heard her telling someone on the phone “it’s parked right alongside my Toyota, it looks like a big shinny jewel sitting there”. I guess she finally figured it out.
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Well that was my first Christmas gift. The second is despite of what thousands of little children were wishing for we didn’t have a white Christmas on Long Island and more importantly they haven’t salted the roads yet :D. So I got to take the coupe out for a nice 2 ½ hour drive :D on Christmas day. Most of my previous drives have been a half hour or so in the middle of the night after working on it for 2 or 3 hours. A day time drive without wearing work clothes was certainly a treat for me. There weren’t many people on the roads so I got to enjoy pushing it hard in a few places :D. It was a thoroughly enjoyable day other than realizing that the pesky gas smell is still in my trunk. ~ John Buchtenkirch
 
great story, & no wonder she finally "got it," -that's a nice looking car!
 
you need to make sure trunk lid is adjusted perfectly as any non- sealed gap, either by compression of the gasketed surface or the glued side, will permit migration of gas/exhaust fumes in to passenger compartment
 
Great story. My mother is also 89, and she still appreciates a nice car. When I was in high school, I convinced her to get an Audi Coupe GT, and later a Volvo 740 turbo, and still years later an e39 BMW wagon. Meanwhile, my dad had Chevys. She still keeps the e39 wagon, even though she hasn't driven in about five years! She lets her friends drive her around in it, and I get to drive it when I visit.
Sounds like a great Christmas.
Scott
 
Ha Ha Great story. No matter what age we seem to always want to impress mom !
 
Great story John.

About the gas smell, two comments: that's not a defect, that's a feature. "They all do that, really"

There are more than a dozen potential causes of the gas smell, all documented. Have fun finding which one(s) are applicable to your machine!
 
Gas smell--many reasons

I always run BLUMAX with fan switch on low and the outside air vent fully open to slightly pressurize the cabin. All other features, seals, etc are in fine working order. That has eliminated gas smell for me.
 
I disconnected the line to the plastic vapor cannister and vented it out the trunk floor between the tank and the rear panel and replaced the sender unit seal and checked the filler neck hose for integrity - no gas smell ever anymore.
 
Thank you everyone for the nice comments on my car :smile::smile::smile:. It presents itself nicely for a 40 year old car but suffers from a so so paint job done by some previous owner. After 40 some years in the business I’m blessed or cursed with the body man’s eye so I unfortunately tend to notice every mistake and imperfection. I call it a 10 foot car (in another words best viewed from 10’ away) or a real decent driver. Having said that I’m thrilled to have a real solid car that deserves further restoration down the road depending on how my health & ambition holds out. And if I never get around to repainting it I certainly will not go to the grave heart broken, I did get to own & drive a decent car that I have wanted for around 30 years, that was when my Bavaria was stolen.

As far as the gas smell goes I have never smelled it in the passenger compartment which surprises me with the 6”x 9” holes speaker holes cut in the package shelf. I have replaced the gas line hose, fill neck hose and all hoses running to & from the plastic tank. I vented the plastic tank thru the trunk floor as suggested. I have put soap bubbles all around the tank’s mounting flanges and the fuel gauge plate and pressurized the tank with 5 lbs. and no leaks were noticed. I put 5 lbs. in the plastic tank when it was held under water, no bubbling was observed. A new gas cap and sealing the fill neck to the rubber boot also hasn’t helped. I hooked Jimmy Dee’s smoke machine (used for finding vacuum leaks) to the tank and couldn’t find a smoke leak. It certainly isn’t as bad as it was so I’ve gained on it but I’m also running out of ideas ??? ~ John Buchtenkirch
 
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Look forward

I had the same problem with the fuel smell. While removing the interior in preparation for painting, I pulled the glove box out. Behind the glovebox you may find a hole through which the air conditioning pipe passes. Well, the grommet or whatever surrounding the pipe or tube has shrunk. Possibly this is the source of the smell.

My car is at Vintage Sports being painted now. I plan to plug the extra space with plumbers putty or something like it.
 
Stan said:
I had the same problem with the fuel smell. While removing the interior in preparation for painting, I pulled the glove box out. Behind the glovebox you may find a hole through which the air conditioning pipe passes. Well, the grommet or whatever surrounding the pipe or tube has shrunk. Possibly this is the source of the smell.

My car is at Vintage Sports being painted now. I plan to plug the extra space with plumbers putty or something like it.
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Thank you Stan but I’ve never smelled fumes in the passenger compartment so my search still continues. Also good luck with your new paint job, I hope it is fully up to your expectations. ~ John Buchtenkirch

PS, What you want is 3M strip caulking, also known as "dum dum" to body men.
 
Did you try a new o-ring under the fuel sending unit? Also my plastic expansion tank had a very small crack in it so you may want to check that. Mine vents directly out the back eliminating the tank and tubes altogether.
 
Very nice!!

Your car looks very nice, John. You did a good job with the suspension. I like the way it sits. What size tires are these?
 
Stevehose said:
Did you try a new o-ring under the fuel sending unit? Also my plastic expansion tank had a very small crack in it so you may want to check that. Mine vents directly out the back eliminating the tank and tubes altogether.
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Steve, I pretty much have covered everything you have mentioned in the second half of my post #13. I would have installed a new O-ring just to be sure but couldn’t find it or even the fuel level sender in realoem.com. I checked it (the O-ring) with soap bubbles and a smoke machine (again see post #13) and am somewhat sure it doesn’t leak but would still install new if I had a source. I have been thru the European O-rings having different diameters (when I rebuilt my Dutch manufactured Safan brand power shear) and also worry about the rings compatibility with gas so I don’t want to just get any old hardware store O-ring.

I have mentioned my friend Jimmy Dee’s smoke machine and many of you may not know about them. It heats up Johnson’s baby oil into the finest smoke and blows it into intake manifolds (or any closed tank or system) to find the smallest leaks you could imagine. They are somewhat expensive but after seeing how good they work I couldn’t see how a mechanics shop could be without one but many people don’t even know about them or resist them because of the price. I did check my gas tank when almost empty to expose as much of the tank as possible to the smoke. Why it didn’t work for me ? ----- I guess I will report on that when I finally figure this thing out. The photos are Jimmy using the smoke machine to get the vacuum operated locking differentials on a VW Syncro wagon working. ~ John Buchtenkirch
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